An Error In Translation
by LadyPhenyx
Summary: Sometimes, after enough time has passed, even the least well-written books or least thought out ideas can enter into legend, if they're famous enough. Too bad for Dipper, he gets to live long enough to see it. And when his sister is born into a cult that has been influenced by those legends and worships him, things get...awkward. TRANSCENDENCE AU
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes, after enough time has passed, even the least well-written books or least thought out ideas can enter into legend, if they're famous enough. Too bad for Dipper, he gets to live long enough to see it. And when his sister is born into a cult that has been influenced by those legends and worships him, things get...awkward.

* * *

Okay, I said once that I was going to start putting one-shots that have more than one chapter into separate stories as well as posting them inside "Tales of a Dreambender. This is the first of them.

* * *

Dipper knew he should check in on his Mizar. He hadn't since she was first born into this lifetime, and he missed her so, so much.

No matter what lifetime, Mizar was his rock, his anchor, but he'd learned the hard way that it wasn't fair to that soul to pin everything on them.

That was why he'd started seeking out other souls, other connections.

And as much as he hated to admit it, well...Mizar didn't need him yet. He needed her, but..he could sense her, through their connection. She was loved, and being cared for...in fact, if his connection said anything, it said that the only danger she was in was of being spoiled. And she was still so young...

And, well...he'd promised himself. And he'd promised her. He wasn't going to forget everyone else again and focus just on one soul.

Plus...Willow's current incarnation needed him right now. Odd as it was, a demon was the only one on that kid's side at the moment.

If things didn't get better soon, he might have to take steps, and that...probably wasn't going to work out well. At least he had experience with making false human identities by this point, so if worst came to worst he could take care of her. Probably not the best, but...better than the way she was living now.

He'd also figured out where both Stan and Ford's current lives were (they had reincarnated together again, as siblings, and that soothed something Dipper hadn't realized hurt) and he'd checked in on them a few times already. He was going to wait until they were a little older to introduce himself.

Ford seemed like someone who was into the paranormal this lifetime again, so there was that opening...of course, it could also mean Ford would know enough to reject Dipper, and not enough to realize he was trying to be friendly.

They were the only ones currently incarnated, though he had a feeling more might be coming soon. Ugh, it was so hard, and to have to try again each lifetime...

The point remained, though, that while he wanted to check on Mizar, right now, Antares needed his focus, and Mizar...well, she didn't.

He'd regret not paying attention later.

Dipper was just cleaning up the lunch dishes when he felt the tug of a summons. This one was strong, the kind of tug that an accomplished, knowledgeable set of summoners could create, strong and not something he could just ignore or send to the answering machine unless it was an emergency.

That could be a very good thing, or very, very bad.

Quickly he poked his head into the living room, where Antares...Pearl...was sitting, playing quietly. He felt some vague regret that it had come to him taking her away, but, well...when the literal _demon_ , albeit the currently trying to be somewhat human demon, was the better choice of parent...

He still wondered, at times, how his Mizar was doing, but...raising a kid took nearly all your time, even when you were a dream demon and therefore didn't need an actual job to create money, or to eat, or to sleep. Add in the face that Ford and Stan's reincarnations were just down the road and Pearl had managed to befriend them, so he was keeping an eye on all three, and...well, he did check up on Mizar, with the connection between them, he just hadn't been able to look in on her.

She kept radiating pride and well-being, lots of pride actually, and a vague sense that translated to being happy and busy, so he hoped she'd forgive him in the space between lives for not hovering over her in this lifetime.

That would all have to wait, though. The call of the summons was getting stronger the longer he put it off, so he called out a quick warning to Pearl, letting her know he was off for a summons, dinner was in the fridge if he wasn't back in time, and waited just long enough for her to respond before he blinked to the source of the summons.

Over the years, Dipper had been dragged into some odd summonings. In fact, he'd been dragged into some very, very odd summonings.

Despite that, he still had a certain image in mind when he felt a summons, especially one as strong as this one. A certain idea of what he should see, what should happen, how everything would unfold.

Today, that image was not to be.

Instead of a dark warehouse or basement, lit only by sterile florescent lights or the weak, flickering light of candles, Dipper found himself coming into corporeality in a brightly lit room, full of dazzling and colorful light.

He was surprised enough to fumble his usual opening, falling silent as he paused to get a better look around.

The more he looked around, the more confused and unsettled he was.

His circle was carved into an alter, a high piece of black and white marble, and the room...it had high ceilings, and that was where the resemblance to his usual summons ended. The walls were black stone with gold gilt decorations, mainly of stars or highlighting the lines of carvings, all polished to a high gleam.

Stained glass windows behind the alter and along the wall threw colored light, like a careless scattering of jewels tossed across black velvet, over the room and everyone inside.

There were people seated in pews, actual darkly stained wooden pews that lined an aisle carpeted in dark gold, all of them dressed as if for church.

In heavy vases along the walls, an abundance of flowers lent the air a heavy, thick scent. Spaced between them along the walls were heavy white candles, their holders shoulder high and the candles wrist thick, their light glittering off the gold of the vases and the walls. Swags of cloth draped along the pews and walls, gold and white, all of the building decorated as if for some holy event, but in Alcor's colors, blacks and golds with highlights of white.

It was all the people inside that kept Dipper from openly looking up to see what the window behind him, the largest of them all, displayed, from being quite as open about his gaping and confusion as he wanted to be, though the shapes of the colored light on the floor gave him a bad feeling that it was his symbol up there, in the stained glass of the window.

Professionalism and pride clamored not to let anyone see when he was thrown. Even in a case like this, when he was very, very thrown, not only by the building that appeared, to all intents and purposes, to be a church dedicated to him, though not one of the Circle of the Dreamer's Star, whose worship he was becoming more accepting of, but also by the air of anticipation that hovered over the crowd.

Instead, he slowly turned and directed a glare onto the robed man standing at the top of the shallow stairs at the front of the room, the man standing in front of the alter that Dipper now saw had Dipper's symbol inlaid on the front in gold and draped with something thick and rich, his circle inlaid onto the top and blood staining the grooves.

The man (priest? Cult leader? Dipper wasn't sure, but this certainly looked intensely religious, and the fact that they'd summoned a demon didn't make him any less cautious about what they might be planning. Religious folk had tried to summon a demon to 'purify' it before, after all. They just usually left Dipper alone, as he was ridiculously overpowered and generally considered best left alone – and he wasn't going to take the fact that this appeared to be dedicated to him at face value) looked taken aback for a brief moment at Dipper's irritation but Dipper was impressed by how quickly he rallied.

Apparently, he'd prepped himself for the demon wanting to know what the hell was going on, because once that moment was over, his face broke out into a huge, joyous smile.

Dipper was instantly even more suspicious.

"Our great lord Alcor! Long have we awaited this joyous day, and great is our honor to bear witness to it!"

Idly, Dipper wondered if there was some kind of script cult leaders were given alongside the summoning circles. If they were respectful at all, they all seemed to talk the same way...

"Eighteen glorious years ago, we were blessed to have born to us Mizar, the Gleeful, the Merciful, the Free. We have been honored all these years to raise her with love and pride and to prepare her for this day. Today, Mizar is ready to be returned to her Alcor. We gather here as witnesses to this solemn moment, when the Twin Stars are reunited, to once again glow as one, guiding lights to us all."

Dipper was seriously freaked out by this point, but he kept his face as impassive as he could. So this was where his Mizar was? Or was it someone else who was pretending to be...no, a gentle probe told him that his Mizar was here, she was just outside waiting for her signal to enter, and he wasn't sure that was much better.

...if they were going to sacrifice Mizar to him then this place wasn't going to stay pretty for long. That wasn't quite the vibe he was getting from them, but it was still a plain fact that it was a possibility.

What the hell kind of cult was this? Dipper was getting serious Jonestown vibes from all of these people, and that was even with him having mostly come to terms with the idea of someone worshiping him. Bad enough when they got over-zealous about sacrificing things to him...

But this...this was a full fledged church, and although there was some of the warmth he got from the still (thankfully) small Circle of the Dreamer's Star, there was still a good deal more of a fanatical vibe. There was no way they could just haul around an altar like that from place to place, or have a building like this, and not be obvious about what they were doing, so this had to be some sort of compound, someplace really dedicated to this...

But...despite the fact that the whole thing felt weird, there wasn't anything...wrong? Just a lot of people looking at him? In a really odd way? Like they were really glad to see him, which was really weird in and of itself, and he got a general feeling of anticipation. Anticipation was normal at a summoning, but this was...eager? Positive? Joyful? Like they didn't expect this to end in blood and tears?

...he'd never been to a summons before where everyone was sitting in nice clothing in pews like they were waiting for a sermon or something. This whole setup was creepy, and this was a demon saying that.

Was he...supposed to be saying something? Everyone was waiting, but...what was even going on?

Why hadn't he been paying more attention?

Okay, stay calm, Dipper told himself. Maybe this was just something like the Circle and he was just being paranoid over nothing. They just wanted to present Mizar to him, right? That was a good thing, he missed her, and if they knew she was Mizar and were this into it then they wouldn't have to sneak around about meeting each other, and she probably wasn't going to freak out about the whole demon brother bit. This could be a good thing, right?

Music swelled, cutting through Dipper's frantic thoughts, and Dipper felt his heart drop to his shoes. Oh please, please, let that song he heard not be what he thought it was...

Doors opened at the back of the hall, and Dipper took a deep breath he didn't technically need before he turned to see if it was as bad as he thought.

And as soon as he'd gotten a good look, he started silently cursing in every language he knew even as the rest of him blue screened.

Because walking down the aisle, in full western bridal garb, from elaborate white dress to trailing veil draped longer than the dress' train to sparkling tiara to huge, cascading bouquet, was his sister.

 _His. Sister._

Okay so not maybe his blood sister now but the soul was hers and it was the same as being a sibling to him.

Dipper gave a full body shudder, even his hair poofing, and he had to bite back the urge to puke.

This was not good.

He wasn't trying to feel his Mizar, but he could feel her emotions all the way from the front despite actively blocking her, they were so strong. Pride, and joy, and a good deal of nerves, and oh crap this was her _wedding day_ they honestly bought all that Twin Souls eternal bond crap as meaning wife and not sister and this was a _wedding_ his sister's _wedding day_ and oh this was going to be messy.

The time Dipper's brain had needed to reboot had apparently been enough for Mizar to make it to the front of the church (and oh, this was why he'd never gotten a sense of another name from her, Dipper realized in a flash – they must had dropped her birth name as soon as they'd realized whose soul she had and referred to her just as 'Mizar' ever since) and it seemed most of his dismay hadn't shown on his face, as everyone save the 'groom' was still beaming.

Mizar stopped at his side, and she was short this life, short enough she had to tilt her head back to look into his face (though that was, admittedly, at least partially because he was still floating) and she gave him a look of such love and longing that Dipper really did want to be sick. His sister should never, ever look at him like that.

"Okay, hold up," he said as the priest began to speak. "I get what's going on here now. And you've all got the wrong idea. Um. Sorry. But I can't marry Mizar."

"But...but why?" the priest cried into the stunned silence Dipper's declaration had caused. "She has studied and trained for this all her life. She is ready to give herself to you, body and soul, as is only proper for the mate of a demon of your power and status, the only one who has ever taken a mate! She is your Mizar, surely you cannot deny her this renewal of your bond!"

The protests and dismayed exclamations began almost before the last word had left the priest's mouth, the congregation agreeing with him and begging Dipper to reconsider, questioning why he would refuse Mizar.

If it had been anyone else they'd been trying to foist off on Dipper he might have just left, or given some short, pithy lecture about marrying _demons_ , made a joke or snarled them into silence, but this was Mizar, his Mizar, and she looked so stricken, waves of despair and heartbreak almost visible, strong enough to make even his heart ache, that he had to say or do something before she did something drastic. Who cared about anyone else, his Mizar was hurting.

"Mizar, you're my _sister_ ," he said, his voice cutting over the risen voices around them as he spoke directly to her, catching the tear-filled eyes with his, ignoring everyone else. "I know it's not blood, but the relationship is the same to me. I don't know where anyone got the idea for all...all this," he gestured around them at the church, the altar, the dress and all the trappings, "...well okay I kind of have an idea where they got the idea but we've always been siblings. I get how much this means to you, but we're not getting married. Ever. I...I'm sorry, but no."

Mizar's eyes never left his face throughout Dipper's explanation, silently (and, it seemed, automatically, thoughtlessly) accepting the handkerchief he pulled out his jacket pocket to dry the tears overflowing from her eyes.

"You...don't want me?" she said when Dipper paused, searching for the words.

Dipper flailed for a few seconds in the face of her pain before lunging, grabbing up his Mizar in a tight, desperate hug. In her surprise, she dropped the bouquet, and slowly her arms came up to return the hug as he spoke. "I love you. You're my Mizar, and I always want to be near you," he said, suddenly as choked as she, "but not like this. Sister, not wife. But I already love you so, so much."

"But the wedding!" the priest cried out in protest. "The binding! It must be renewed! 'Tis not the first time someone has been both sister and wife!"

Dipper bit back a snarl by sheer effort, pulling back from the hug reluctantly, one hand stubbornly remaining on Mizar's shoulder even as she scooped up her bouquet and wiped her face again with his handkerchief, calmer now that she was assured of his love, even if it was a different type of love than she'd been expecting. If anything, Dipper thought he felt relief coming from her, not as strong as the pride and joy as before and with a strong overtone of guilt, but relief all the same.

 _Human_ , he reminded himself. _Not completely demon. You can handle this._ "The bond between myself and Mizar is renewed each time we meet in a new lifetime and get to know each other," he said sharply. "Not because of ceremonies. And I'm not marrying my _sister!_ "

"But the ancient legends all say..." the priest continued to protest, and beside Dipper Mizar was radiating nerves and vague fears, though they were directed at the priest and his retribution for this ceremony gone wrong and of what Dipper might do to him, if he was feeling her correctly.

It was hard to tell, especially when he hadn't been human for so long and the emotions were all muddled together.

"The ancient legends are wrong," Dipper snapped. "Are you seriously going to argue this with _me?_ With Alcor himself? I know the bond between myself and Mizar in ways mortals could never comprehend!"

The priest continued to sputter, and Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose. It was physically impossible for him to get a headache, he reminded himself. There was no reason for it to feel like he was getting one now.

"If you keep talking about me and my sister doing...having...ugh. Having sex," Dipper ground out the word, "Then I'm going to be sick. Demonic puke is a pain to clean up, you don't want to deal with that. This is a nice carpet." He sighed again, deciding to keep playing along for Mizar's sake and so, so grateful he was in one of his saner periods right now.

"Look, everyone," he said, turning to face the audience, who'd sat in stunned silence since the first protests, "You've got a party all ready. Go celebrate. It's not a wedding, but you still did it. We're reunited. So go celebrate that. I want to talk with my sister for a bit. We've got a lot of catching up to do."

Mizar grinned, wiping away the last of her tears. With a whoop, she suddenly spun and pitched the bouquet over her shoulder into the crowd.

And suddenly, despite how this meeting had gone down, Dipper suddenly had a good feeling about this incarnation.

* * *

Notes: The reference to priest makes about how Mizar & Alcor could be siblings and spouses refers to more than one instance of it in older gods, such as Greek or Egyptian. This was an idea I had a good while back that I finally wrote out.


	2. Chapter 2

The church had cleared out rapidly after Dipper's instructions to "Go, party, celebrate. You did it, we're reunited. Now leave us alone to talk."

The priest had been almost dragged out by two of his helpers, and Dipper could faintly hear him giving the occasional muddled protest or confused lament.

Dipper hoped there was booze at that party, because he had the feeling that priest could use a stiff drink. Preferably several.

Especially once he realized he'd been arguing with a demon, the demon he supposedly worshiped, had set up an entire church around, in particular.

A little part of Dipper was almost sad to miss it.

"So, um...you want to get out of that thing and talk?" he asked Mizar, who was much more important than the chaos going down in the party, no matter how attractive the chaos.

"I actually kinda like it," Mizar answered, a little shyly, but Dipper figured she'd earned it. After all, she'd been raised to think she was supposed to be marrying him today, and found a brother instead, and now they had to talk to each other.

She gave a little spin, showing off the dress, and giggled. "I feel pretty," she added. "Unless...unless it's making you uncomfortable?" she added, pausing in mid-spin.

"No, no, it's fine, you do look pretty," Dipper said, scratching at the back of his head, floating hat moving out of the way of his hand.

An awkward silence fell over the hall until Dipper dropped down onto the stairs and Mizar dropped down to join him, giggling as her skirts fluffed up around her.

"So..." she said finally, pleating a bit of her skirt between her fingers, "I'm...your sister. It's...kind of a switch. Since I was supposed to get married today and all."

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, still playing with the fabric of her skirt. "Actually...I don't really know that much about you, besides what I got told. You know, the lore and all? But if they were wrong about me being your destined wife..."

"Well I don't really know you either," Dipper said, playfully protesting. "I mean, each lifetime is its own personality."

The hall went silent again, as both looked at each other, considering.

This Mizar looked a bit like Mabel, with her brown hair and brown eyes, and it made the situation all that much more disturbing. It was bad enough when a Mizar thought they _had_ to have a romantic or physical relationship with him as it was, but when they looked so much like his original sister...Dipper suppressed a shudder.

He wondered just how many things he was going to have to talk her through during this lifetime, how many false assumptions and pure wrong legends he was going to have to work through to explain the truth.

At least she seemed pretty accepting of the whole 'sister, not wife' part.

...though, on consideration, with how quickly she seemed to be switching, he may have to talk to her about that later. He'd always felt pride coming from her, but now that he was able to sit and think about it, maybe she hadn't been so into this marriage as she'd seemed.

This was awkward.

Ten minutes later and the two were munching on a cheese ball and crackers Dipper had blipped over from the 'reception' and talking as they played with a pack of cards Dipper had found in his hat.

The cards were, surprisingly enough, not yet sentient, though Dipper had a feeling that Mizar was getting all the cards she needed from a pack that was just aware enough to play in her favor.

They hadn't managed to talk about anything really deep yet, just the easy, surface things, but it was still communication.

Mostly, it was just a moment to calm down. Let Dipper's headache calm from the offhand comments Mizar made that gave his first insights into living in this cult.

"Yeah, Father Zachariah has a spell that can let us see if our soul did something important, or, like, who we used to be," she said casually, checking a card and discarding it, as if such a spell wasn't still a major piece of magical work. "So they figured out I was Mizar back when I was really little. They don't name kids until after they check, so it's always been my name. And I've always been treated special for it."

Dipper took his turn, and Mizar paused to check her cards. "Special how?" Dipper prompted. "I mean, I usually got pride from you when I checked...c'mon, don't look at me like that! I only touched the surface!" he protested when Mizar looked at him oddly. "Just enough to make sure you were okay! You know, make sure you weren't being abused or anything! I never looked more than that, I remember a few things about privacy!"

Mizar kept looking at him oddly for a few more seconds before she shook her head, reaching for her next card. "Sorry, it's just...I used to be told I had to keep myself pure for you," she paused as her newly found brother hurked, continuing after he'd recovered, "and that you were always watching, so I had to be sure I didn't do anything that would displease you."

"...I'm a demon," Dipper felt the need to point out as he played a card, still a bit disgusted. "That category is probably pretty broad."

Mizar shrugged. "Not according to Father Zachariah, and his word is law. Around here, at least. But hey, I got a lot of special training the other kids didn't get. I can speak Latin like a pro, and I can fight – even Father Zachariah couldn't deny that a Mizar had to be able to fight. There's just too many stories of Mizars fighting by your side to deny it. And Magic, and oh, just...all kinds of things," she finished, suddenly a little dodgy.

There were waves of discomfort at something she had remembered coming off Mizar, and Dipper was quick to change the subject.

"Well, the fighting might be useful," he said. "I've been trying not to ask Mizars to do that sort of thing unless they're sure, though. It's dangerous, and...well, not all the wounds are physical, you know? It's...yeah, it's not easy, and there's things you can't prepare for. Um...oh! That reminds me...you probably shouldn't tell the rest of the...cult? Congregation? Ugh, I don't even know what your folks believe about me...about this, but...you've heard I take in kids sometimes, right? Like, I protect them? So...uh...you have a niece."

"I do?" Mizar said, dropping her cards in surprise. "But...I thought..."

"She's not mine! I mean, I didn't...she's not...I rescued her!" Dipper said in a rush, the swirl of colors around Mizar telling him exactly where her mind had gone, dropping his own cards to wave his hands wildly in denial. "I've never had a kid, well I have but not like because I helped make one I don't I...agh no."

Dipper buried his face in his hands and gave a little yell of frustration. "Okay. Yeah. Um. She's one of the souls I watch, okay?" he said, raising his head to look at Mizar through his bangs. "Not as closely as yours but I try. And she was in a really bad place. There was nobody else to take her in, so I did, so now you technically have a niece, okay? And I have no idea how all these people would react to that, so yeah."

Mizar had calmed down a bit halfway through Dipper's frantic explanation, her colors reflecting a wide range of emotion.

Her eyes went wide, beginning to sparkle. "I have a _niece_?" she repeated, as if it were just now really sinking in. "I got a brother, and now I get a niece!"

Mizar leaned back in the billows of her wedding gown, paling. "I have a niece. And a brother. And I'm not getting married. I...guess it's all just finally getting to me."

"Oh! Um. Crap. Um...here, have another cracker, that'll help right? Humans need food, you uh...have you eaten today? That's still a thing you need, oh thank goodness I have a kid right now," Dipper babbled as he loaded up crackers with cheeseball for his sister, passing them over one at a time and almost overloading Mizar's hands with them.

Mizar giggled, a little wetly and a touch hysterically, but ate the crackers anyway. It had been awhile since the breakfast she hadn't been able to eat, thanks to nerves.

Dipper sat beside Mizar, waiting as she collected herself, careful not to touch. They'd just met, and he remembered how some Mizars reacted when he pushed too fast for that relationship he craved.

Finally, Mizar took a deep breath, working up a smile.

"Um...look, I could use my omniscience to find out how you all were worshiping me here, or figure out what they told you about me," Dipper said, rubbing at the back of his head, "but to be honest, using it too much give me a headache. Or ends with the walls oozing blood or slime. And I'd rather hear it from your point of view anyway. And tell me what you were expecting? Like, for me to look like, or act like, or...or do, with all this wedding stuff going on? Maybe that would help us quit dropping these bombs on each other?"

Mizar blinked at Dipper for a second. "Uh, well, first off, we're told you always know what we're doing. Remember, I said they told me that you always saw what I was doing, so I had to be sure to always make you proud? So you'd accept me when today came?"

"That sort of thing's a lot of work," Dipper said, trying not to whine. "I don't...I try not to spy too much on people, when I'm still me. It's creepy. I forget that sometimes."

Unbidden he remembered Mizars yelling that at him before, and shuddered.

"I forget a lot of things I should remember, mostly about how to human."

"Ah...right," Mizar said. "Well, um...wow. It's really hard to think of how to explain it. It's just always been part of my life, yanno? Let's see...well, there's always a big sacrifice on holy days. Whenever someone asked why we didn't summon you we got the sermon about how we weren't supposed to bother you unless we had something big to offer, and we didn't have anything bigger than, well, me. And the sacrifices always disappeared in black smoke so we figured you were accepting them."

"And, well...I guess Father Zachariah was going to ask for your blessings on things after the wedding," Mizar continued, oblivious to her new brother's facepalm and irritation. "I'm not really sure, he was a bit vague."

Of course he was. What bigger sacrifice could they come up with than his sister – or wife, in their eyes – on a silver platter and with their blessings? Not having to sneak around to meet each other, openly accepted by her family?

No wonder Father Zachariah thought this had been a good idea.

"Do I want to know what else?" he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"When can I meet my niece?" Mizar asked instead, changing the subject.

Dipper blinked for a few seconds. "Well, Pearl's dance class is this Saturday but she's free after," he said. "I...could come get you? Tesser you over to meet her? That should give her time to get used to the idea."

He'd find out the rest later. He usually did.

Hopefully, this time, it wouldn't explode in his face.

But Dipper didn't like that Mizar didn't feel comfortable talking to him about it.

"Mizar...would you be upset if I found out how your...congregation worshiped me on my own?" he asked. "I mean, not how they raised you in particular, that's yours, just in general?"

Mizar sniffled, looking down at her skirt and playing with it. "You won't hate me after?" she asked in a tiny voice that went straight to Dipper's heart.

"I promise," he said, and found himself with arms full of sister.

He was going to regret this, wasn't he.

Dipper was right. He did regret looking into it.

Though not entirely because of what he found.

Being worshiped...did odd things to him. The demon in him loved it, reveled in all the foolish souls giving him things with so little effort on his behalf.

The human in him was disturbed by it...but also, to his vague shame, enjoyed it as well. There had always been a part of him that wanted to be acknowledged as special, this was just on a much bigger level. It was how far it was taken that weirded him out, made him uncomfortable if he thought too much on it.

Dipper only skimmed the surface, as he was going to let Mizar tell him about things had been different for her in her own time, as he'd promised.

He had many previous Mizars and their lectures on the subject to thank for that reminder, and the fact that he was trying to be human now for Antares, for Pearl, to thank for remembering it.

As for Pearl...well, as he'd offered to let Mizar met her, he couldn't exactly keep it a secret.

If her reaction was any indication, this was going to be an interesting (loud) meeting.

At least she was willing to be loud now, Dipper decided. It was better than when he'd first brought her here and she'd been terrified that the least little thing would make Dipper get rid of her.

But getting Pearl to understand people worshiped her new father...and that her new Aunt was coming from a group of people that did...hoo boy.

"That's kinda creepy," was Pearls' observation, once she'd finished digesting it all. "She's not gonna try any of that while she's here, is she?"

"Okay, so this part's weirder, but...they didn't know she was my sister, okay kiddo?" Dipper said, inwardly wincing at this part. "So...they just knew Mizar and Alcor are supposed to be together and jumped to conclusions. And assumed we were supposed to...ahem, to get married, so she's kind of adjusting too, okay? So be nice when I bring her over."

Pearl considered that, watching Dipper with eyes far too old for her age. "I'll be nice," she said, "So long as she doesn't try and act like you're still getting married. 'Cuz she's your sister. And that's kinda gross."

"She's working on the switch, give her a little break," Dipper said, ruffling Pearl's sleek hair. "They were harping on her being my wife for eighteen years, and she only just found out about the sister bit. She's trying."

Dipper found himself shifting and fidgeting as he waited for Pearl's dance class to end.

As soon as he got Pearl home, he was going to go and fetch Mizar, and he was really questioning how well this had been thought out. The offer had been a spur of the moment idea that had seemed good at the time, but...

He barely knew this Mizar yet, and he was already bringing her home to meet his charge, his daughter.

But on the other hand, it was Mizar...not that a Mizar couldn't go to the bad or get him to do terrible things...still. Time was up.

He left Pearl nervously fiddling with her dolls as he blipped off to pick up Mizar.

Mizar was waiting outside the church dedicated to him, looking as nervous as Pearl had, and Dipper sensed some people inside, watching to see what would happen.

Mizar brightened when she saw him, as if she hadn't been entirely sure he'd come.

Dipper went for the hug, reassured when it was returned.

"You okay? Ready for this?" he asked when they drew back from the hug, and Mizar shrugged, playing with her hair.

"Guess so! Take me to my niece, brother mine!" she declared, and Dipper decided not to comment on the nerves radiating off her.

Mizar and Pearl sat looking at each other across the living room, Pearl with her legs not touching the floor in the big armchair and Mizar barely able to keep still.

Dipper, sitting tensely on the couch between the armchairs, was seriously beginning to believe he'd rushed things.

"I'm not gonna let you take my Papa away," Pearl suddenly announced. "I had to go through too much to get here."

Dipper gaped at Pearl for a few precious seconds as Mizar swallowed the words that sprang to her lips, just as possessive, a result of years of being taught to see Alcor as hers, half of the pair he was meant to be just as she was his, to say, "I'm not here to take him away. I just want to be part of his life, and yours, too."

Pearl glared at her for a few seconds more before her face eased. "Okay," she said. "I just...wanted to make that clear. Yanno. In case you still had ideas about marrying him or something."

Dipper felt he should say something, but he was being ignored despite being the topic of discussion.

"Well, he was pretty clear about why it wasn't happening," Mizar said. "But they've been telling me it was going to happen and training me for it since I was a baby."

"Gross," Pearl said, leaning forward in the huge chair. "What if you didn't wanna get married?"

"That wasn't an option, according to everyone I knew. If Alcor found me pleasing, then he'd have me," Mizar said frankly.

Both Dipper and Pearl paused at that. Dipper wasn't sure if Pearl caught just how disturbing Mizar's statement was, but he had, and even as a demon he was highly disturbed.

"Okay, we're gonna have to talk about that later," Dipper said. "I'm...going to go fix lunch."

"I can do it," Mizar said immediately, starting to rise. "You're the Dreambender, I'm supposed to serve you, let me do it!"

"No, really, you're a guest here," Dipper said, realizing with a sinking heart that they still had a long way to go. "You're supposed to be meeting Pearl now, remember? You two just talk, I've got this."

With that, Dipper hurried into the kitchen and braced his hands on the counter, taking a deep breath he didn't need but that helped despite that.

Somehow, he hadn't realized just how much Mizar was going to have to unlearn, just what it meant that she'd grown up in a cult dedicated to him and being trained to be his bride.

This was...going to be difficult.

In the living room, the silence was getting more awkward.

"Maybe they're right," Mizar said to herself, only just loud enough that Pearl heard her. "Maybe I'm not the right Mizar after all. If I can't even do this right..."

"Papa likes cooking sometimes," Pearl said, and Mizar looked up at her in surprise. "He doesn't always get it right 'cuz he forgets what tastes good to humans, but it makes him feel good to take care of us. I dunno what they told you, but Papa doesn't need taken care of. He just needs people around, like, to help him 'member how to people. He told me so."

"You must think pretty poorly of me," Mizar said after a minute. "I'm trying, it's just..."

"Papa said you've been raised to always think certain things and it's gonna take awhile to un-learn them," Pearl said. "Like me. But how're you gonna do that when you're still living with the people that still think that way? I mean, they're gonna keep telling you it all the time."

"I...well, they all heard your Papa say I'm his sister," Mizar said weakly, and Pearl hugged a pillow tight, not looking at her new aunt.

"Papa had to bring me here 'cuz no one where I lived was gonna do the right thing for me," she said, still looking at the pillow. "Maybe you should ask if you can come live here too."

"You don't think I'll use it to try and steal your papa away?" Mizar asked, a touch of amusement in her voice, and Pearl grinned.

"I think he can stop you," she said.

Lunch was only mildly awkward, to Dipper's relief, the sort of awkward that comes when you're trying to get to know someone new that is important to someone who's also important to you and both of you are desperate to make a good impression. A good awkward.

After lunch, Dipper urged Pearl to go outside and play, to let he and Mizar talk. Pearl was a bit reluctant – she'd just met her aunt and had no idea when she'd see her again – but her papa was firm. He needed to talk to Mizar.

Mizar waited until Pearl was outside and Dipper settled before she spoke. "Yanno, Pearl brought up something that stuck with me," she said quietly. "I'm trying to relearn everything about you, and until I came here to visit I didn't really realize just how much they got wrong. I'm still trying to understand it all, I'm sure there's going to be a lot more. And...I'm still living with them. I may be Mizar, but they aren't listening to me when I say things. Pearl says that so long as I'm living with my family, I'm going to keep backsliding into their way of thinking. Well, she didn't say it like that, but you know. That's what she meant. It's hard to remember how things really are when you're always being told it's not that way."

Dipper winced. "Yeah, that...that's probably true. So I guess the question is, what do you want to do about it?"

"It's my choice?" Mizar asked, and Dipper hid his wince as he nodded.

Mizar leaned back in the huge armchair she'd chosen in the living room, curling her legs up onto the seat as she thought.

"I guess...the best thing would be if I could move out," Mizar said. "But I don't have anywhere to go. I got a good education, but it was all...well, it was all in being a demon's wife. I don't know anything about living in the outside," she finished sadly.

"...you could come live here," Dipper offered.

Mizar froze, looking at Dipper with wide eyes. "You really mean that?"

The more Dipper thought about it, the more he liked the idea. "Yeah, I do. We've got the room, and Alcor should have his Mizar around, right? So your family can't argue about it."

Mizar squealed with glee and threw herself at Dipper for hugs, and Dipper wondered for the fifth time today just what he'd gotten himself into.


End file.
